Today we had a news conference to call the public's attention to the outrageousness that is the government funding of Planned Parenthood with your, our, everyone's tax dollars in Virginia and federally, and calling for all levels of government to strip this company of its funding. Gee, with both the Virginia and federal budgets in such great shape, yeah, why not throw several hundred million hard-earned tax dollars to an organization that reported more than one billion dollars of income in Fiscal Year 2006, of which about a third came from us?
We'll have a lot more to say about this in the future, but because of time restraints (gotta get over to the Gala) we are posting the news release we issued today on the issue. Following this post will be Family Foundation of Virginia President Victoria Cobb's statement at the press conference.

Family Foundation Urges Defunding of Planned Parenthood

- Former Kansas AG addresses press conference -

RICHMOND - The Family Foundation of Virginia today urged the General Assembly to pass budget amendments that would prohibit taxpayer funding of Planned Parenthood. Former Kansas Attorney General Phill Kline and former Virginia Secretary of Health and Human Resources Claude Allen joined the pro-family organization at a capitol press conference.

"While Planned Parenthood would like us to believe that its all for health care, nothing could be further from the truth," said Victoria Cobb, President of The Family Foundation. "Virginia taxpayers should not be asked to subsidize the activities of the nation's largest private abortion provider. They should not be asked to subsidize their partisan political activities. They should not be asked to subsidize the actions of an organization that operates under a cloud of suspicion and scandal. As the General Assembly once again works to correct a bloated budget, with a deficit of nearly $3 billion, every potential cut needs to be considered. Taxpayers of Virginia deserve better than to be asked to help finance Planned Parenthood."

For several years The Family Foundation and other pro-family organizations have been working to end taxpayer funding of Planned Parenthood in Virginia. This year for the first time budget language passed both the House and Senate that would have done that, but the language was stripped in conference committee negotiations.

Planned Parenthood is the largest private provider of abortion in the United States, performing more than one quarter of all abortions. As the national abortion rate has gradually declined in recent years, Planned Parenthood's abortion number continues to increase by double digits. At least $100 million of their income is from abortion.

According to Cobb, Planned Parenthood is an organization that has spent hundreds of millions of dollars on elections, targeting pro-life elected officials. It is led by Cecile Richards, the former chief of staff for current Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi, a fierce partisan with deep ties to the Democrat party.

Cobb added that Planned Parenthood is an organization that has been accused of criminal activity. Former Kansas Attorney General Phill Kline charged them with 107 criminal counts — 23 felonies and 84 misdemeanors — for unlawful late-term abortions and other abortion-related crimes. Kline's evidence comes from subpoenaed medical records that indicate that Planned Parenthood in Johnson County, Kansas willfully neglected to report instances of child rape, forged viability reports, and performed illegal late-term abortions. Further, a district court judge in Kansas testified that he believed Planned Parenthood produced forged documents in response to subpoena. Despite the fact that every judge who reviewed the case found probably cause, Planned Parenthood has been able to delay any real court action to this point.

Senator Ken Cuccinelli (R-37, Fairfax) said in a written statement, "Earlier this year, I introduced a budget amendment during the General Assembly session to deny taxpayer funding to Planned Parenthood. The nation's largest abortion provider does not need or deserve our hard-earned tax dollars.

"While my amendment passed the State Senate, funding was later restored during the legislative process. Even though this attempt to cut off Planned Parenthood failed, it was a good first step. We learned what is needed to stop Planned Parenthood from living off the taxpayers while hurting our families.

"The General Assembly reconvenes in January and our economy is in a downturn. It's going to be very hard for Planned Parenthood to justify taxpayer subsidies while the Commonwealth is in the midst of a severe budget crisis."

"Should those charges ever be proved in a court of law anywhere in the country, Planned Parenthood stands to lose hundreds of millions of dollars in taxpayer funding," added Cobb. "The citizens of Virginia should not have to wait for that day. We urge the General Assembly to pass a budget amendment in 2009 that protects taxpayers from subsidizing Planned Parenthood."

Author

<squarespace:query /> exceeded allowed number of squarespace query tags (this is occurrence 9, of a maximum of 8).

<squarespace:query /> exceeded allowed number of squarespace query tags (this is occurrence 10, of a maximum of 8).

<squarespace:query /> exceeded allowed number of squarespace query tags (this is occurrence 11, of a maximum of 8).

<squarespace:query /> exceeded allowed number of squarespace query tags (this is occurrence 12, of a maximum of 8).

<squarespace:query /> exceeded allowed number of squarespace query tags (this is occurrence 13, of a maximum of 8).

<squarespace:query /> exceeded allowed number of squarespace query tags (this is occurrence 14, of a maximum of 8).

<squarespace:query /> exceeded allowed number of squarespace query tags (this is occurrence 15, of a maximum of 8).

<squarespace:query /> exceeded allowed number of squarespace query tags (this is occurrence 16, of a maximum of 8).